The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Almayer's Folly by Joseph Conrad: no doubt closely watched by Lakamba and Abdulla, for the man once
in the confidence of Rajah Laut was supposed to be in possession
of valuable secrets. The coast population of Borneo believes
implicitly in diamonds of fabulous value, in gold mines of
enormous richness in the interior. And all those imaginings are
heightened by the difficulty of penetrating far inland,
especially on the north-east coast, where the Malays and the
river tribes of Dyaks or Head-hunters are eternally quarrelling.
It is true enough that some gold reaches the coast in the hands
of those Dyaks when, during short periods of truce in the
desultory warfare, they visit the coast settlements of Malays.
Almayer's Folly |